Street Furniture Competition 2011

Following the success of last year’s competition, Architecture for Humanity Chicago, in collaboration with Archeworks, is proud to announce the Street Furniture Competition 2011. Read over the full competition brief after the break.

THE PROBLEM:

The American city is rooted in its neighborhoods, public spaces, and infrastructure. Transforming the interstitial open spaces that characterize our cities can be a fundamental catalyst for community connectivity and socialization. When neglected or inaccessible, these vacant spaces become detrimental to neighborhood health and vitality. To address the needs of a diverse and changing urban population, space must adapt to the needs of a broader range of ages, physical abilities, and cultural backgrounds. Through small acts we can repurpose public space to be more universally accessible, inclusive, age friendly, and a builder of community.

THE CHALLENGE:

Design one or more pieces of ‘street furniture’ that can revitalize a vacant site, is universally accessible, and fosters multi-generational community interaction. Street furniture should not be limited to benches. We consider other structures that make a small space seem inviting, usable, and safe to be street furniture. Including but not limited to: harvest tables, raised planters, play equipment, interactive sculptures. The goal of this installation is to continue the dialogue about open space and how design can be the catalyst for the creation of meaningful and joyful places that facilitate community engagement.

Winning designers will have at least one piece (potentially more) of their ‘street furniture’ built in the spring of 2011 as a year-long community installation. This installation is intended to activate the space in anticipation of a future neighborhood garden at the site. After the year, the street furniture will be considered for permanent installation or relocated to a new vacant site in Chicago.

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS:

Durability (one year in Chicago) Programmatic Flexibility Ease of construction & deconstruction Use of readily available or reused materials Budget: $1,000.00

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

* Team Information & Release Form (link to team form coming soon) * $10 Entry Fee * Two 11×17 Boards, submitted as a PDF including a plan, section/elevation and design detail. Please list the required materials and describe the build process. Scale of drawings at the discretion of the entrants.

Submit questions, release form and final PDFs to furniturecomp@afh-chicago.org

TIMELINE:

Submission Deadline, 5:00 pm on Friday, February 25th

Winners Announced at the March AFH meeting

April and May: Saturday Build Days June: Placement of street furniture